Medical research has revealed that anger reduces the amount of blood that our hearts pump to our body tissues even more than does fear or mental stress. It is a well accepted fact that angry, cynical people die young. People who score high for hostility on standard tests are four times more likely to die prematurely than those whose scores are low. And yet anger that is suppressed tends to turn inward and manifest itself in depression. So how can we defuse this bomb that ticks away within us?
Abraham Lincoln had an effective technique. He’d write a letter to the person he was angry with, expressing his feelings fully. Then, having got it out, he’d burn the letter and write another one.
I think that’s what the Bible means when it says: ‘Be angry and sin not;’ or to put it a little differently:‘You can be angry, but it doesn’t have to destroy you.’